How do you see TEDx conferences standing out from other non-TEDx conferences?

For TEDx organisers concerning your ambitions for creating a legacy - what might they have been if any?

Were most of your resources focused on high quality production for the video talks, or might your team have been more towards the impact your event would have on the audience in person on the day or a combination of others?

I am curious in how to ensure the sustainability of TEDx events, how they can truly engage and inspire and be the focal point of discussion and ideas within a particular community for a long period of time.

In our previous event we focused a lot of attention on the quality of the speakers, their talks and the video production which turned out to be good. As a conference, the delegates on the day were networking throughout and got to know one another extremely well. The great challenge is getting this to continue long after the event has ended which may be the area to build on next year?

Jul 16 2013:
You're right about TED, especially since the framework exists. The concern is more geared towards the smaller independent TEDx events where conversations may end once event-day comes to a close. Delegates benefit individually as they personally develop from the speaker's ideas that inspired them - what about group development? Would you agree that TEDx communities are more focused on the individual and could do with something like the TED Prize that brings many indivuals together to work on projects and achieve common goals?

Jul 16 2013:
To put this in context, I have not been to a TED event yet.

The idea of perhaps making a tree of wiki type links to one of the broad topics defined by TED, as sort of a rolling conglomerate of ideas, opinions and thoughts of many is a static historical account of group thought.

Looking forward, and offering a TED prize to inspire groups to collaborate towards some goal might work, but going from zero to a productive working group takes time. In the adult world, time usually equates to money, and many are struggling to make ends meet.

You might motivate folks with a competition of sorts, where the winner got to meet some of the celebrity members of TED, either in person, VTC, or electronically. I know in the case of the First Robotics program here in the US, the kids were very enthusiastic about the competition, even though there wasn't much money involved for most. An extension of the recognition program in TED with medals might be a way to offer some recognition for contributions made in collaborative efforts. Say for instance, a little handshake symbol with a number on it reflecting work accomplished, or perhaps free tickets to a future TED event.

Breaking a project down into parts that could be accomplished over the internet, matching talent to project task with very limited knowledge of contributor, and meeting a schedule for the project would be some real challenges.

Jul 15 2013:
I think one of the distinctions between TED and non-TED conferences, talks, and conversations is that there is a genuine desire for user feedback. Further, because of the positive spin associated with topics, people are eager to hear, process, and respond to what they have heard. Many of the comments reflect this positive energy.

I think TED's premise of looking for brainstorming, new ideas and collaboration in comment feedback informally is good, but perhaps doing it formally might be better. For instance, suppose the author(or proxy) were to take all the comments and build a composite addendum summary to each TED product that duly referenced the TED commenters. In this manner, the original and a product built from reactions to the original could be viewed together as two distinct products. These products would take advantage of both peer review and the group knowledge and experiences of many TED reviewers.

Something like this product might also be the basis for on-going TED topic wiki. Perhaps taking the popular topics listed to the left and make a TED specific wiki, including the points, opinion cases, and points of fact associated with each topic. This may promote networking and perhaps keep some of the better ideas form being lost due to the volume of comments provided.

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